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The video itself remains the source of truth.
The Philippines offers a high quality of life, welcoming people, and economic opportunities that are increasingly attractive to Westerners seeking an alternative lifestyle, especially young men facing challenges in their home countries.
The host provides a weekly update from the Philippines, detailing his busy schedule of filming a documentary and lining up interviews. He discusses his long-term plans to stay in the Philippines, contingent on financial stability, and expresses excitement for the upcoming Christmas season, known for its vibrant celebrations. He also touches on potential sponsorships, including with Safety Wing, to support his channel and extended stay.
The conversation shifts to travel plans and city comparisons within the Philippines, with mentions of Manila, Davao, Cebu, and Dumaguete. Safety concerns are highlighted following a report of an American being kidnapped, underscoring the need for travelers to be mindful of their surroundings. The host contrasts the peacefulness of Davao with the convenience of SM malls in Cebu, and discusses the climate differences between Baguio and other regions.
The discussion delves into financial advice, the challenges faced by young men in the West, and a critique of Dave Ramsey's financial advice, suggesting it may not account for systemic issues like wealth inequality and asset inflation. The host argues that many Western countries are in decline, prompting individuals to seek better opportunities and quality of life elsewhere, with Southeast Asia and Latin America being popular choices. The video also covers practical aspects of expat life, such as digital nomad visas, cost of living, and lease agreements, emphasizing the importance of thorough exploration before settling.
The stream concludes with discussions on specific Filipino experiences like roasting lechon, preferences for balut and durian, and the improving internet infrastructure, including Starlink. The host shares personal anecdotes about his interactions with locals, the welcoming nature of Filipinos, and the overall positive impact of living in the Philippines on his well-being. He reiterates the appeal of the Philippines for its quality of life, affordability, and the growing community of expats and digital nomads.
Yes, expat life in the Philippines offers a high quality of life with a welcoming culture and a lower cost of living compared to Western countries. Many find it an attractive destination for a different lifestyle.
The cost of living in the Philippines is generally lower than in many Western countries, making it an appealing option for expats and digital nomads. This affordability contributes significantly to the perceived quality of life.
Many Westerners are moving to the Philippines seeking a better quality of life and economic opportunities, with some perceiving their home countries as being in decline. The welcoming nature of Filipino culture also plays a significant role.
Filipino culture is known for its welcoming, friendly, and hospitable people, creating a positive and inclusive environment for foreigners. This makes integrating into expat life in the Philippines smoother.
Internet infrastructure in the Philippines has been significantly improving, making it more viable for remote work and digital nomad lifestyles. Services like Starlink are also becoming available, further enhancing connectivity.
Yes, exploring different regions and cities through 'discovery trips' is crucial before committing to long-term stays or leases. This ensures that the chosen location in the Philippines is a good fit for your lifestyle.
While the Philippines offers many attractions, travelers should be mindful of their surroundings. A recent report of an American being kidnapped highlights the need for awareness. The host contrasts the peacefulness of Davao with potential safety concerns in other areas.
The Philippines offers a high quality of life with a lower cost of living compared to Western countries. This affordability is a major draw for expats and digital nomads seeking better financial opportunities and a more comfortable lifestyle.
Internet infrastructure in the Philippines has been improving significantly. This enhancement makes the country increasingly viable for remote work and supports the digital nomad lifestyle.
Yes, exploring different regions and cities through 'discovery trips' is crucial before committing to long-term stays or leases. This practice ensures that the chosen location is a good fit for your lifestyle and needs.
0:09 Hey, hey, what's up guys? Testing, testing. There we go. Okay, cool. We'll give it a little bit. Okay, we got a couple people on here. Good morning. It's about 10 till 8:00 a.m. here in the Philippines, and I am just having my morning coffee and, uh, just waking up.
1:06 I filmed a mini documentary this week that should be out, hopefully next weekend. I'm not certain if that's when it will come out, but that's what I'm hoping for. It should be interesting, but feel free, guys, to chime in and let me know what you're up to this weekend, how you're enjoying it. I think it's Friday night back in the states, around the middle of the night in Europe, and then Asia's well already awake.
1:37 Some of us are waking up. I woke up at about probably 6:00, 6:30 this morning, and I just did some reading about different stuff. Then I made some instant coffee, and so that's what I'm doing this morning is just having my coffee. I'll probably go to Jetti maybe in the next hour or so, like maybe after the stream. I might go for an hour, maybe an hour and a half, depending.
2:28 I've been super busy this week. This is, I think, been the busiest week yet for me here in the Philippines. And, uh, yeah, I just worked on the documentary and I've been lining up interviews. So I've got quite a few. I've got one scheduled for Tuesday. I'll probably get that released on this upcoming Thursday.
2:53 I'll check my notes here because I'm trying to schedule these interviews. Yeah, I'll probably get at least two done this upcoming week. And I may do a third with somebody I've already interviewed, actually, because I want to ask him some more questions. The veteran that I interviewed, I'd like to meet with him again. He's a friend of mine because there wasn't my traditional style of interview.
3:30 So I prefer to kind of control the conversation, hit certain questions, lead things in a certain direction so that I can take you, the audience, on the journey. But he kind of wanted to present something more along the lines of helping folks in a certain way as opposed to storytelling. Both are awesome, but there's a difference between telling a story and doing an interview, right?
3:57 And I'm happy for both. I think there's value and benefit in both. But it was just, we didn't get a chance to tell a story, let's put it that way. And I'd like to do that because he's got a really interesting story, a really engaging story. He's been here for eight years, there's a lot to talk about.
4:18 But yeah, I've got to, but he's busy right now, so I've got to schedule something with him as well. But yeah, I've got like potential four or five, you know, that just need to be scheduled. Hey Joe, thank you so much for supporting the channel. Joe, good morning, good to see you.
4:37 I will be staying in the Philippines for a while, so the job market is still not that good. I don't know if it's going to pick up after the election, but I'm starting to get more and more traction. And I actually talked to a sponsor, well, a couple of sponsors, potential sponsors yesterday. I haven't anything yet, but one that you all may be familiar with is Safety Wing.
5:07 They do insurance, and so a lot of us vloggers have insurance partners because it's something we get asked about a lot. People want to mitigate risk, right? They're coming halfway around the world, they're concerned about, you know, how to avoid pitfalls, how to handle different situations. So most of us have insurance partners.
5:30 So I'm talking to Safety Wing. But yeah, Joe, I'm starting to sort out the financial aspect of being able to stay longer term. And that was, that's the big hangup for me to stay here. It's not so much about like health, it's not so much about missing family. For me, it's more about, can I just cover my expenses and then some?
5:56 And, uh, yeah, so that's what I'm working on right now with the channel. But I'd like to stay, like at least another four or five months, really. Long term, but as far as in the short term, at least four to five months because Christmas is coming up in about two months, and Christmas in the Philippines is incredible.
6:21 Yeah, I love Christmas in the Philippines. If you haven't experienced it yet, it's really a wonderful time of the year to get a stronger appreciation and sense for Filipino culture. There's already Christmas trees up throughout the city of Dumaguete, like in the malls. People love it here. I mean, people really, really enjoy the Christmas holiday.
6:49 Good morning, Doug. Good to see you in here. Welcome, welcome. Joe says, "I'll be flying in for a two-week vacation in December." Joe, so where are you flying to in the Philippines? Are you flying here to do meetups? Are you looking at Cebu?
7:07 If you're coming here to do meetups, I'd love to meet up. Feel free to send me an email, and I'll drop my email again in the chat. Ah, okay. You're flying, so you're going to be in Manila for two weeks. Okay. Then it's a great option too. A lot of people love Manila.
7:21 I know at some point I need to go spend a month in Manila because there's a lot for me to do up there. I'd like to check the city out. There's a ton of vloggers up there. I also worked with a camera crew, and each of the members of the camera crew are from Manila, and so I want to go hang out with them because I really had a lot of fun, really got along well with them.
7:43 But I think Manila is going to treat you well, Joe. You know, it's, you've got the big city vibe if you want something super, you could say, like modern. You look at BGC, of course, Bonifacio Global City. They've got all the restaurants that you could want there. They've got all the amenities, the shopping malls.
8:14 Gerard says, "If you could start a business, what would you like to do?" That's a great question, Gerard. Um, I think media is just a lot of fun for me. It's really great to be able to interact with people, to share my experiences, to kind of show people that they can live alternative lifestyles and get validation, right?
8:36 Because when I left to do this six years ago, people told me I was insane. People told me I was going to get kidnapped. I heard all kinds of wild stuff that was going to happen if I chose to go outside of the United States. And now we live in a time where there's more and more people pursuing this lifestyle.
9:03 And that's a large part of that is through the media, right? A large part of that is using cameras, using laptops to show our lives and show our experiences. And, uh, I enjoy it a lot. So I think that going the YouTube route, growing the YouTube channel and, uh, just building off like additional businesses alongside YouTube.
9:31 So for one, having partnerships, right? Having companies that want to connect with my audience, and I also know are reputable and will take care of my audience members. Because there's opportunities that people reach out to me about that I just totally ignore because I just don't think it would be a good fit. I don't think it would help you guys.
9:46 And so yeah, building out the vlogging such that there's numerous different streams of income is top of mind for me right now. And then I become more mobile too. I mean, I love the Philippines, but I have some friends in Indonesia. And I have two friends, actually good friends of mine, in Indonesia that I want to go see.
10:11 I've never been to Indonesia, so being able to go over there and show something a little bit different. To me, part of what makes my experience valid is the variety of experiences that I've had. So I can speak to and compare different places, and that's helpful for you because some of you may not want to live in the Philippines.
10:31 The Philippines may have some drawbacks. You may not like the hot weather. You may, you know, you may be a member of a certain faith that you prefer to be in a country like, you know, if you're a Buddhist, for example, Thailand is awesome. If you're a Catholic, can't beat the Philippines.
10:54 Let's see here. Joe, fly. Okay, Doug, this will be my first Christmas here. It will be down in the Dumaguete area for Christmas and New Year's. Beyonce's family is in Occidental. Yeah, Doug, definitely send me an email when we get close to Christmas, and feel free to reach out. It sounds like you'll be here in town.
11:17 I want to travel more in the Philippines, like and spend some time outside of Dumaguete, but Dumaguete just makes a lot of sense, right? I have a lot of friends here. I know my way around town now. I find it to be just easy to live here. It's just, you know, it's just easy to get around. It's not too big.
11:36 You have some of the big city conveniences. You can easily, you know, go to different shopping malls that have all the things that you want and need. So it's just a very comfortable place to live. Like some people, they prefer to be in a more provincial area, and I don't blame them, right? Like the province can be very chill and slower paced.
12:00 But other people, they want a little bit bigger city vibe. For some people, you'd be surprised, but for some people, Dumaguete is too big of a city. So I met a gentleman recently who said he felt like Dumaguete is this huge city, and that he just didn't really care for it. So it's important to think about that as well.
12:17 For some people, that's just too big. Here, Joe says, "Thinking of flying down to Deval City for three or four days." Yeah, Joe, Deval seems to be really awesome. A friend of mine, his girlfriend is... I'm sorry about the dog barking, by the way, guys. It's just...
13:05 Thinking of flying down to Deval City for three or four days. Yeah, let us know, you know, if you make that decision, Joe. It's supposed to be super orderly and, uh, super orderly and like just very organized and easy to get around. I've seen some video of Deval, and it looks like an American city as far as just the sidewalks, power lines. Very, very nice city.
13:32 I would love to go to Deval. So Deval and Iloilo are the two cities that are highest on my list because, well, aside from Manila, I mean, so those three, probably those three.
13:44 So those three are the top three on my list: Manila, Davao, and Iloilo. I've spent some time in Mindanao, and speaking of which, there was unfortunately an American who was kidnapped. This was late Thursday night, and he had a YouTube channel. I'll drop his name, and if you want to look his channel up, you can. It's really unfortunate, but he was kidnapped. We're all very deeply concerned about it, and we want to make sure that he's able to get back safely.
14:58 Everybody should be very mindful when they are traveling abroad. Check out some of the safety warnings, but not just the safety warnings, really do a deep dive. Some places you go maybe there aren't any major safety issues, like certain places I've been in the US or other parts of the world. But then in some other places, there can be some concern for your safety and well-being.
15:35 So Davao has is really popular for durian; that's one of the things that I want to try when I go down there. For me, I think one of the things that stuck out when I talked to my friend's girlfriend about it was she said it's just very peaceful. You know, it's very quiet, it's very peaceful, it's a little bit sleepy compared to what you might think for a city of its size.
16:55 Davao is very peaceful; I loved it. Everything you need is in walking distance, but it's a large area with two SM malls. It's the second-largest population city, but still very peaceful. Yeah, that sounds awesome. I like going to SM malls; they are super nice. One of my favorite malls I think that I've ever been to in the world is SM City Cebu. It's just so modern and organized and clean, and they have really nice food there.
17:31 It also has proximity to the Radisson Blu, which is my favorite buffet. This is my favorite buffet in Cebu; it's at the Radisson Blu Hotel. It's probably, in my opinion, one of the nicest hotels in Cebu. It's just a very, very nice place. The decoration is incredible.
18:11 You can cool off, right? If it does get hot in Davao, I haven't been to Davao so I can't speak on the weather, but if you have the two big shopping malls, you can just go down there during the heat of the day, enjoy a nice meal, relax, kick back, and enjoy yourself.
18:27 Baguio was a perfect climate, but so crowded. Yeah, I've heard Baguio has gotten extremely popular because a lot of people are going there to get out of the heat, right? I mean, the weather can certainly be hot, and if they want a break from the heat, then that gives a good option.
19:05 I am definitely feeling kind of worn down, guys, from all the filming this week, but I'm going to keep powering through because there's a lot of interesting stuff going on to talk about. It's just very unfortunate what happened to this young American, and I just wanted to call that out as something to be mindful of.
19:39 Davao in May with the humidity, heat index, wow. Yeah, that is extremely hot. Definitely one of those places where you want to spend some time in the air conditioning to stay cool and be able to relax. I was at Robinson's Mall yesterday in the city, and it was really a comfortable temperature there. It was really nice to get a break.
20:31 It'll be heating up here in Dumaguete soon; it's already starting to warm up some. It was really nice when I woke up, but it's already starting to get hot. Let me look at the forecast today. It'll peak at 90 degrees, and the low is 79 degrees. So, I guess it'll be hot around 11 a.m., here in a few hours, and then it'll come down a bit. It's supposed to rain today; I think we're supposed to get rain for the next week, just about every day.
21:01 Doug, how was your budget? Are you able to travel around a little? I try to slow travel, Doug, so to help stretch my budget. I try to do one-month blocks at a time, especially in the early days of growing the channel. As the channel grows and I get a larger subscriber base and have increased sponsorships, then I will be able to travel around more.
21:34 I'm not sure exactly how to gauge the pace of the growth. I think that this interview that I did this week has the potential to rapidly grow my subscriber base because the organization that I did the interview with has several million subscribers and they're displayed in like something like 16 million homes. So the goal is to grow the channel.
22:07 And then once the channel, the first goal is to have the channel produce income such that it covers my monthly expenses of staying put. And then once it goes beyond that, then I start to look at travel. I may do, like I said, month blocks because I could leave here and go somewhere else for a month, test it out, come back here for a month.
22:28 But it's also beneficial for me because I struggle to do traditional travel-style vlogs. So a lot of people might be wondering, why don't you show videos running around town? Well, what ends up happening is I've got to record it, then I've got to do a voice-over, and to me, it just seems kind of disjointed unless, in the moment, I'm not as much of a fan of doing scripted content. I prefer more documentary style.
22:59 And so that's a disadvantage of travel. If I travel, I've got to find new places to film. I've got to readjust my workstation. I'm not saying it's not doable; it's definitely doable, but it takes more, like, what's the word I'm looking for? It takes a lot more decision-making. Right where here, I've decided, okay, I've got two or three places that I like to film here in Dumaguete.
23:31 I've got a social kind of group where I've got many different connections with people here in Dumaguete. So for me to find new people to interview for the channel is very easy. I have people like I had somebody, a nice, really nice lady, approach me at Robinson's Mall yesterday at Filipina. So I was surprised, but now I'm starting to grow a Filipino audience as well.
23:55 I think about 18% of my audience is Filipino, so very receptive, very kind, very wonderful people. But she approached me saying, 'Hey, I watch your channel,' and I'm shocked because I feel like the channel is still quite modest in size. I do appreciate everybody's support, but it's still very humbling for me to get recognized in public, not just by foreigners, but especially by the Filipino people. It's a wonderful feeling.
24:22 Travels on my radar. I like to do it one month at a time, in one-month blocks. That also gives me more time to do a deeper dive on a place. I feel like sometimes we go to a place for a couple of days, we don't really get a strong sense of the place. We may go to the beach, and wow, the beach is awesome, and we go to a restaurant, and the restaurant is awesome.
24:51 For me, spending a month in a place, I feel that I can speak much more to that place. I can tell you, 'Okay, this is what I like, this is what I didn't like, this is what I'd recommend doing, this is something you could skip over, maybe it wasn't as impressive as what I had originally thought.' And so there's certain places like Davao, I could give at least a month to. Manila, I could do a long time in Manila, but at least a month in Manila. And then Iloilo, I would do a month in Iloilo and also try out Boracay.
25:23 So those are some of those places where I think because they rank so high on people's radar, I wouldn't want to go for just a couple of days. Nothing wrong with going for a couple of days, but if I have subscribers that ask me for detailed information or insight, being able to say, 'I stayed there for a month,' you know, I get benefits on both ends. So on one end, I save money; on the other end, I get a more in-depth experience that I could share about.
25:51 Like, 'Hey, I like this, this, you know, was so-so.' Tony, woohoo, Friday night! Great to see you, Tony. Hope you're doing well. Always good to see you, Tony. It is. Yeah, it's been a journey for those who don't know, Tony was the first person that ever joined these live streams. And there were many live streams where it's just me and Tony chatting. And so it's wonderful to see more and more folks enjoying this content.
26:27 Alex, best any advice for a single man just wanting to retire in the Philippines, not looking for a relationship? Yeah, that's a great question, Joe. I'll try to keep it high-level. I'm not, I hesitate to give advice because anytime I give advice, there's a risk it turns out to not be applicable or not be good for you. And so I prefer to share insight.
26:52 Like, I wouldn't tell you what to do, but this is the insight that I've learned from my experience. And I would say, try to explore. You mentioned before that you want to go to Davao; try to explore. Make a determination: are you, if you're a big city guy, you'll want to focus on Manila, Cebu, and Davao, right? Those are the three largest cities in the country. If you're expressly looking for those big city conveniences, big city amenities, then those are going to be your best bets to provide that kind of lifestyle.
27:30 But even so, I would recommend branching out. Like, I'm a big fan of doing what I call a discovery trip because, you know, some people, like I met somebody recently, and he immediately signed a year lease, and he doesn't like where...
27:48 You know, you ought to have given it more time to explore, check out some different spots, like different neighborhoods. Even here in Dumaguete, I would recommend if somebody were thinking about signing a year lease, go check out Daan, go up to Valencia, check Valencia out, check out Siulan near the airport, and then check out Dumaguete proper. You get a sense of the different parts of the city because one person that's really into diving should be in Daan or in Bongao. They should be in an area where they have access to that. If somebody doesn't like the water at all, then maybe Valencia makes more sense.
28:30 So really, give yourself the time to get to know different places. Check out a few different cities of different sizes, even check out a vacation destination like Boracay or Palawan. I've got some others that I'm a fan of, like there's Guimaras and near Iloilo that I want to check out. I haven't been there yet, but I want to check it out.
28:57 Checking out these places so that you get a sense of what's on offer. The Philippines has a ton to offer, and I think sometimes we get in a hurry to settle down, and we really benefit a lot from trying different places out and getting a sense of what's available.
29:20 Because, Joe, I would need to get a better sense of like who you are. I'd want to ask you a lot of questions to get a better sense of what kind of suggestions I would make to you. But I push the discovery trip a lot because you may find it's not the right fit. Some people prefer a lot of different places, but if you do the discovery trip, you get a strong sense of like, could I stay here or could I not?
29:52 And I knew when I visited the Philippines five years ago, I was thinking, yeah, I could live here. I'm not ready to commit today, but I'm going to give it a chance in the future, and I'm glad I did. Because it really, the big things that I love here are the English, I can communicate with people very easily, the nature, the nature is just absolutely gorgeous. And then the people are awesome, in no particular order. The people here are super nice, they're super welcoming, they've been super friendly to me.
30:30 It's yeah, I mean, I'm enjoying my time here a lot. I'm really liking it. I don't want to leave the Philippines.
30:46 Doug says he has a 2K budget but is normally saving each month and still travels a little. It's for himself and his fiance. Yeah, that's a solid budget, Doug. I think you can do comfortable on that.
31:01 Yeah, I'm trying to be really modest about my budget early on because, well, there's a few things. One, I'm doing a lot of different stuff for the channel, so that occupies a ton of my time. I had a meeting last night at like 8:30 PM, and so it's one of those situations where I need to know that I have solid internet. That was a video meeting also.
31:29 You know, I need to be able to, I just need to kind of be more predictable right now. And so I find that the more I travel, the more locations I go to, it gets a little bit harder to predict things like weather, internet connection, transportation. So definitely, when I can get a bit more structured, then travel will be more and more on my radar.
31:59 Because I want to try out Baguio, right? Heard a lot of great things about Baguio. By the way, guys, if you are enjoying the stream, please give us a thumbs up. It helps with the algorithm.
32:11 Is there prenups in the Philippines? If so, what do you think the women there think about it? I'm not sure. Philam, I'm not really sure if they have that or not. That's something that it might be worth reaching out to a licensed attorney to consult with them and just run it by them. Any questions that you have, I haven't actually talked to any attorneys here in the Philippines, but they would probably be able to dig into that with you and talk to you.
32:43 And they're very economical compared to American lawyers. So, you know, if they've got a fee, it's not going to be, I don't think it'll be the same price as what you pay in America.
32:56 Carsay says, 'I keep hearing that young men are having trouble saving for the future. Do you find it difficult?' I think Dave Ramsey's advice was crucial to my finances. Ejection of my ex-wife was also crucial. Yeah, I mean, the thing about it is, young men can save for the future, but they're not going to have a life. You know what I mean? They're going to sacrifice a lot to save money.
33:26 And the average young men in America, young men in America, so two-thirds of young men in America are single. And I talked about this in the interview I did this week, where I'll drop a link to that. It's super professional, very high quality.
33:42 Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of young men feel that there's very little hope for the future in the US. So what's the point of saving money if you don't feel like you're ever going to be able to get married or have children or buy a home?
34:02 So it's not just that it's hard to save money due to inflation. It's also that because everybody talks about inflation, right? Everybody's saying, 'Oh, look, the rents are going up, the food is going up, the transportation is going up.' They don't talk about asset price inflation.
34:15 So they don't talk about the fact that if you want to invest, your stocks are extremely expensive relative to what they were. So not only are you spending more money and have less left over, but when you're trying to buy into assets, they're also inflated. And asset bubbles tend to not end well.
34:41 And so yeah, I mean, that's Dave Ramsey. He's got some good stuff if you're like somebody who struggles with debt. But I also think that he's interested in selling courses, he's interested in selling seminars. And a lot of what Dave Ramsey teaches can be learned in books, can be learned from just reading different books.
35:02 And you, I wouldn't recommend, like, I know you didn't suggest this, CS, but I wouldn't recommend paying Dave Ramsey a lot of money to figure out how to live below your means.
35:18 There's a lot of information out there that a person could use to try to improve their financial situation. I think though, a lot of young men are just kind of dropping out of the workforce, they're dropping out of society in the West because there's just an oversupply in the West. And so that's why you see so many young men coming to Southeast Asia, going to Latin America, maybe Eastern Europe, because they feel that, well, what am I working toward in the West?
35:51 I can't really afford a decent life. A lot of young men have grown up in a family where the parents were split up. That was my case, my parents were not together. And so that you have all these different things that are basically like, you've got the decline of the West. The West isn't serious, an obvious decline. I've talked about this in a couple of videos on my channel.
36:21 It's yeah, I mean, it's really, it's really not an easy time to be a young man in the West. And I think it's going to lead to further problems in the Western democracies because you're just going to have a bunch of guys who feel that they don't have much to strive toward and much to hope for.
36:46 And, you know, don't have as much to lose. Because if you want to have young men save money, they need to feel that they have a stake in society or that they can get a stake in society. And I think a lot of young guys just don't feel that way. A lot of men in general don't feel that way, but especially young men don't feel that way.
37:05 It's, I mean, you see this in the expat community where it's like, I didn't really, I mean, for me anyway, I don't feel like I gave up much of anything back home. It's, you know, that's why it's people tell me to go back home. I'm like, okay, the jobs are not paying that much, there's been wage stagnation, tons of layoffs, and so I'm not going to go back home to tread water financially. It just doesn't make any sense.
37:34 Basically work really hard just to pay, just to put money in the hands of landlords and car companies and service providers. Like, I'm not getting ahead. The whole reason to work is to get ahead. The point of work is not, I work for the sake of work, just to work. It's like, no, I work because there's a financial incentive, or historically there has been a strong financial incentive. Like, I'm going to improve my lot in life, I'm going to get a safe home in the right neighborhood, maybe I'll get a wife and I'll have children.
38:13 There's got to be some kind of like something on offer to deal with the stresses of work, and to deal with the stress of management. I mean, yeah, I feel that.
38:28 And, you know, there's just going to be more and more guys that get tired of it, and they come over here because they're like, well, I have nothing to really work toward back home. I'm not moving in the right direction. I'm kind of rudderless, and I don't see a future here where I can have those hallmarks of being an adult or being a man. I feel like a perpetual teenager or perpetual adolescent.
38:58 Where like I have friends in their 40s with roommates. Now, this is in California, and I'm once again not judging them, but it's like, okay, real estate is so expensive, they can't lock in a home purchase. And so it's, you know, it's like, okay, do you want to try to raise a family in a house with roommates? That just sounds like, you know, it just doesn't. A lot of people want privacy for their family, they want to feel like the family is buffered from the outside world.
39:33 And I could go on and on about this. I did do an interview, and I'll be...
39:38 I did do an interview and I'll be sure to drop a link whenever I get that link. I think Dave Ramsey, you know, he came from a really wealthy background. That's something Dave Ramsey doesn't talk about: that his family was very wealthy. They were already real estate investors for a number of years before he got into real estate investing. He'll never talk about that; I think it's inconvenient. I think that he doesn't want to talk about that because it's a really awkward conversation to tell people who make bad financial decisions, 'Oh yeah, I could afford to go into all this debt because I knew Mommy and Daddy would bail me out if I made some kind of major mistake.'
40:19 I'm not saying that alone is worth criticizing Dave Ramsey. I don't hate Dave Ramsey, although he's got kind of a rude reputation around Nashville. He grew up in the same city I grew up in, but I think he's having a tough time basically talking about the inequality factor. You know, he boils it down solely to just hard work, and it's fairly obvious if you've worked a corporate job. I didn't work as hard in the corporate job as I did in a restaurant, and yet I made more money.
41:16 I don't know, I just think Dave Ramsey is a good salesman. I think that he's got great sales skills; he's able to communicate really effectively. He's able to convince people of different things, but it's also I don't like some of his business practices. I think he can come across as a bit out of touch. He sells courses for like four or five grand, and a lot of people would be better off taking that four or five grand and going to their local community college and signing up for some basic accounting classes.
42:02 Dave Ramsey would say, 'There's a prosperity doctrine that it's a Christian duty to be rich.' And that I'm getting rich, and it's fine. It's like Dave, like somebody that's bad with money shouldn't be paying you five grand for a course or a seminar. They should be taking that money and I'm sure he would acknowledge paying off debt, but it's like, no, they really shouldn't be even going to your seminar to learn how to pay off debt; they should just apply that to their debt.
42:33 I think that there's some value in preaching to people about taking their finances seriously. I think that if somebody watches Dave Ramsey and thinks, 'Man, I need to get my finances in order,' that's a net positive. People should be, people would benefit greatly from financial discipline. But, you know, he's a salesman, and I speak from personal experience in sales. Salesmen have a certain, they want to make the sale, and they want to do anything to make the sale.
43:16 Finally, on the advice part, if somebody takes Dave's advice and it doesn't work out, then Dave, like, sweeps it under the rug. I don't think he's ever done a thing where he's gone back and pointed out, 'Hey, because a lot of people, several of the people I knew in Nashville that borrowed money when the interest rates were low to get a mortgage, they've done extremely well for themselves.' So this debt is bad, debt is bad, debt is bad? No. We, in the United States, debt is an instrument; it's a tool, and a lot of middle-class people are uneducated about it.
43:50 A lot of poor people are extremely uneducated about it. So yeah, Dave, it's like, okay, you got a wealthy family that can bankroll your real estate purchases, that's awesome. But if you're trying to start out, yeah, when the interest rates are low, a lot of people would have benefited from taking out a mortgage and then finding a tenant and getting their foot in the door on real estate. And a lot of people that listened to Dave and thought, 'It's totally wrong to do that,' they missed out.
44:27 Do you think the digital nomad visa will increase the cost of living in the Philippines? I don't think so, Joe, because there are so many places to go in the Philippines. I do think some of the expat hotspots will continue to go up in price, like Dumaguete, Cebu, IT Park, Bonifacio Global City. These places that are top of the list for expats and digital nomads for various reasons, they offer a very, very high quality of life. But there's a ton of small towns that you could get Starlink in and set up in and be just fine as a digital nomad or as an expat nobody's ever heard of.
45:05 I know of a number of places that I want to check out, but nobody ever talks about them. And some of them I'm going to keep in my back pocket because I like my privacy and I like the idea of having some kind of back pocket ideas. But I don't think so. I think that it's more sensitive to the cost of oil because they import a lot of oil. And so when oil demand or oil supply is impacted by global circumstances, that's going to increase the cost, I think more so than people coming here.
45:45 You've got of all the people that come here, some people, it's just not going to work out for them. They're going to find, for whatever reason, to check something else out. Maybe they don't like the heat, maybe they're not English-speaking. I mean, if you're somebody that doesn't speak English, you might struggle in the Philippines to communicate effectively with people. There's a number of reasons why a person might not find that a certain country is the right fit for them.
46:12 So no, I don't think so. And plus, they are pretty good about allowing new construction here in the Philippines, so you see new construction all over the place. It's not a place where building housing is extremely difficult. So yeah, I don't see the cost of living increasing so much that it becomes like American prices. Now, if you go to Boracay, you go to Palawan, you go to BGC, yeah, you're going to pay a premium to be in those places, but it's still not American prices.
46:52 Great question, Joe. I mean, that's a really fair question to ask. A lot of people that are in the US right now, cost of living is top of mind for them, and they want to know, are we going to deal with that here? I don't see it. Of course, you know, I'm not an expert, but yeah, I think it's important to be mindful that in the very popular cities, costs will go up, probably a little bit faster. But there's going to be alternatives; there's going to be provincial places; there's going to be a lot of different options that nobody talks about.
47:31 And just aren't as much on people's radar. I mean, with Dumaguete, MTI gets a ton of attention for the size of the town. Tons of people know about Dumaguete. There's a number of places that people just don't know about. Now, will they get discovered? Sure. I'm sure more and more places will get discovered and be popularized and go into the kind of public knowledge.
48:02 Great advice to not lock into a year lease until you know if it's a place you like. I did a six-month lease and just extending it now month by month while I look. Yeah, that's a great option, Doug. I mean, and a lot of landlords here are understanding. It's not going to be, you know, some people worried, 'Am I going to be taken into custody for wanting to end my lease?' No, a lot of landlords, they get it. They get that you're a foreigner; they get that you're here on a tourist visa. They get that plans may change.
48:34 You just want to go to them and explain your situation because this idea that, 'Oh, blah blah blah,' most of the time you're going to be able to negotiate with the landlord to end a lease early and in such a way that's satisfactory. Maybe you help them out by helping them to try to find another tenant; that could be part of the way that you sort it out. But they get it if you're a foreigner; you're not a Filipino person. Like your financial situation may be tenuous; you may have a family emergency come up back home.
49:09 You may have, I don't know, for whatever reason, you may need to leave the Philippines early. And so a lot of landlords, I can't speak for each individual landlord in every single circumstance, but a lot of them are understanding. But you don't even want to do that if you could avoid it, right? You don't want to have to go to them and ask, 'Hey, things aren't working out, this is, you know, I got to sort this out.' I recommend booking a place for a month in a certain city and exploring the different neighborhoods, trying out the different restaurants, getting a sense of the atmosphere, not just during the day but also at night.
49:44 A buddy of mine, he went and checked out an apartment on a Sunday, and it's in proximity to a place that would be noisy during the week. And sure enough, it was very peaceful on Sunday. But during the week, it would be a lot noisier during certain hours. So that's something that you're not going to see if, 'Oh, it's Saturday afternoon, it's Saturday evening, and I'm checking this apartment out,' and everybody's out at the mall or at the beach, and nobody's here. That's not going to necessarily give you an accurate impression of what it's like to live there.
50:23 Johnny, I'm almost a minute when I'm in the Philippines. In the US, I'm much less happy due to the people and the lack of values. Yeah, I agree, Johnny. I mean, people in the US are just really stressed out, and a lot of people are very unhappy. Their lives are not turning out the way that they thought their lives would turn out. They feel that the system is working against them. They feel that they are just numbers or cogs in a machine.
50:54 It used to not be like that, you know, the United States used to not be like that. But it's really gone downhill in a lot of ways, and I'm much happier here in the Philippines too. Even when I'm in a bad mood, I'll run into a Filipino person, and they'll look at me a bit concerned because I look stressed out. They'll smile at me, and I'm like, 'What am I? I need to get out of my head.' I'll start talking to them, and we start communicating. They're asking me where I'm from, and the people here are so wonderful. I feel very fortunate to be here; I feel very welcomed as a guest. The people here are generally very considerate, kind, and hospitable, and they want me to be here.
51:36 I've traveled to close to 20 different countries now, and in some countries, you don't get that sense that you're welcome. Here in the Philippines, I feel super welcome. People are so sweet and inclusive. Filipinos, in my experience, are often very inclusive, and I like it here a lot.
52:02 Doug says if I like it here, I will look to move there at the end of November. Yeah, let me know how that goes, Doug. I'm curious about Thailand. I've got a buddy in Thailand, actually. He's not on here right now, but he's a channel member, Michael. Michael's a wonderful guy, and he's in Thailand. So, a lot of people are telling me that the province of Manila is the best of both worlds. You get the chill vibe of the province, but you've got the accessibility to Manila.
52:45 Doug says I've ruled out Baguio, Malaybalay for sure. Carl says, 'I think young men deserve a better future. I wish I knew the Philippines earlier.' Maybe guys like you can connect the dots to earn money in the United States while living in the Philippines. Yeah, that's where I'm at right now.
53:01 Carl says, 'Building up my partnerships, like I said, with SafetyWing. I've got another partnership that I'm ironing out the details on. I just need to review the terms of service and expectations, roles, and responsibilities.' But yeah, I think I'm moving in the right direction where I suspect by late spring, I will be at a point where my monthly expenses are covered by income from the channel. And in doing so, I'm going to try to help a lot of guys come over here if that's the right fit for them.
53:38 If they feel that it's a good option to try it out, I say this all the time: just because I moved to the Philippines doesn't mean it's the right fit for every young guy. But for some young guys, they are going to find that it's a good fit. They are going to find, 'Wow, rent is not $8,000, not $3,000 a month, and I can afford to go out on a date, and I have a social life.' I don't just suffer in silence and meaningless unhappiness and stress. So, I think there's a lot to love about not only the Philippines but many different countries.
54:20 I think you're going to see more and more guys, people in general too. I see plenty of women leaving the United States or UK because those countries, the US and the UK, they're going downhill, and it's readily apparent. I mean, you like I talked to all kinds of people about this in America, and the majority of people who are being honest, intellectually honest and don't have an agenda, they'll agree. They will tell me, 'Yeah, the US is not what it used to be. It doesn't have the same social mobility it used to have. It doesn't have the same social climate that it used to have. People are not as friendly like they used to be.'
55:03 The crime is getting out of hand in the US because they don't address the crime issues in the United States, broadly speaking. Some people will say, 'I live in a safe area, it's fine.' No, it's not okay. We all know that if you're a person of ill intent, you want to take things from other people that aren't yours, you're going to go to where people have stuff to take. I could go on and on about the stress of living in the US, of existing in the US, of surviving in the US.
55:32 But I think there's going to be a lot of guys, and you already see this with the growth in channels like Gio in the Philippines, Paul Old Dog New Trick, Mike's Philippine Retirement. These are just a few examples of guys who are helping a lot of guys come try it out. And some of those guys that try it out will decide, 'Hey, you know what? My life's a lot better here. I'm going to make it work.'
55:57 You also got it, they invested from a young age, or let's say they were in the military. They're collecting a solid pension at 40. There are a lot of guys who are not at the point, not at a traditional retirement age, but they don't need the money that they would need to retire in the US. To retire in the US, you'd want a lot of money, whereas here, if I make, say, $2,000 a month, that's a comfortable life here. I know because I live on substantially less than $2,000 per month.
56:30 But that's just storing that number out there. That's easily going to cover the rent for a guy, that's going to cover the food, and that will cover the expenses that you'd incur while having a relationship. So many nice things about living here.
56:48 I've got a video that's almost done that I'll probably put out tomorrow. I'll probably film the rest of it today after this stream and then get that part edited and then put it up tomorrow. This video that's upcoming is called 'How Do You Spot Somebody Fresh Off the Plane?' because I think we're going to see. I've already seen it here; it's like every week I see guys who are fresh off the plane, and I can tell right away, or I can tell usually very quickly.
57:27 This video is going to talk a bit about that because I think we're going to see more and more guys that want to give it a chance. I talked to a lot of different guys that say, 'I never would have thought I'd come over here, but I see so many vlogs about it, and I get such a strong sense of what it's like to be over there that I want to give it a chance. What do I have to lose?'
57:53 In a globalized world with the internet, I think it's super easy to make money in America and take it abroad to enjoy it elsewhere. And that's the goal. I can't work here in the Philippines; I don't have a work permit. But I can earn money in America and I can spend it here.
58:09 Doug says, 'Joe, I was wondering why anyone would do the digital nomad visa when it's more complicated than a tourist visa.' I think the main thing is just eliminating the gray area, Doug. With the digital nomad visa, you know you've got work authorization in, say, Thailand, and you know that you're getting their blessing. There's not going to be any gray area or 'we're unsure about this.'
58:36 These places know people want to come live here, but they know it's not free for them. They want these people to be paying rent, to be spending at restaurants and grocery stores, to be hiring transportation services to benefit the people here. They really care about the economic impact of digital nomads and expats and retirees, but they want to streamline that process. They also want people to feel like they've got the support, because some people wonder, 'Am I going to be... is it going to be acceptable for me to, you know, can I get my social security income over there?'
59:29 Some people don't know that. Some people think, 'I can only use my social security in the US.' So, there are a lot of different gray areas that the digital nomad visas help to iron out, and I think it's really good. It is more complex, but it's also more transparent. It's also more easily understood; there's not as much lack of clarity, if that makes any sense.
59:52 Nicholas says, 'Did you hear about the American that got...' Yeah, so I did hear about that. I talked about that a bit earlier in the stream, Nicholas. It's very unfortunate. I hope I didn't come across as callous to anybody. I don't know tons of details, any more details than any of you know. It's kind of funny because I was chatting with a woman in Zamboanga, not too far from him, let's say.
1:00:23 I asked her, 'Hey, is it safe down there?' She said, 'Oh yeah, it's no problem.' And I'm thinking, 'Yeah, yeah, I don't know about all that.' Now, he was in the province of Zamboanga, in an area called Cugman. But yeah, I mean, he was, you know, he's in a very dire situation. And that's where stuff gets real, and where people have to be very mindful of where they're going, what they're putting out there, who they have to be concerned about wherever they're at.
1:01:01 That's a part of the Philippines where there is some level of risk, and you have to be mindful of it. Some people have no issues, but in this case, this young man unfortunately is in a very dire and difficult situation. I will keep my eyes peeled. I hope that he's able to be returned safely to his family back in the States.
1:01:30 I dropped his name; I'll put it in here again for those who don't know. He actually had, well, he has a YouTube channel, and his last post was yesterday, I think, 24 hours. His last post was that same night.
1:01:48 But yeah, I'm gonna have some coffee here.
1:02:05 Medtech says, 'I'm in Cambodia for January and February.' I'm sorry you won't be there. Yeah, I love Cambodia, Medtech. I would like to go back. It's definitely one of my favorite countries. The people are super friendly. Phnom Penh is just eclectic and vibrant and electric. It's just an interesting place.
1:02:27 Johnny asks, 'Is Starlink reliable enough to work online in the Philippines?' Yeah, I think it is. So, I haven't, I can't speak from personal experience, Johnny, but I've...
1:02:33 From personal experience, Johnny, but I've heard from a lot of people that they have great experiences with Starlink, that Starlink is able, is strong enough. Of course, here, I think I have fiber here in, uh, Bogo, so my internet here is faster than my internet in America, actually. And if occasionally, for whatever reason, it goes down, I also use my phone as a hotspot. So, yeah, internet in the Philippines has improved immensely in the last five years. When I was here five years ago, that was my hang-up. I struggled with the internet speeds in the places that I went.
1:03:15 Very rarely is it an issue these days for me personally. There are some days where it's a little bit slow, but I'm just blown away at how many different improvements have happened since I last came here five years ago. I think it has so much potential as a digital nomad destination. Now that they've sorted that out, it's just going to have a much wider appeal. More and more people are going to want to be here because that was the concern for a lot of people: 'Okay, if I'm working online, am I going to have the connectivity I need?'
1:03:50 If I'm going to connect with American clients, if I'm going to be doing business meetings, am I going to be able to have a strong connection? If I need to upload, I mean, when I tried to upload on YouTube five years ago here, not in Dgte, but in some other parts of the Philippines, I would get this notice: 'It'll take 36 hours to upload a 10-minute video in 1080p.' I'm like, '36 hours?' And then it would go 18 hours and then freeze, and then I have to delete it and start over again.
1:04:26 This country is on the up and up in many different ways, and the internet is part of that story. Things continue to improve and improve and improve, and it's fantastic here. Doug says, 'I was on the front of the curve of leaving the United States. I knew even though I worked all my life, I wouldn't have a good retirement. I left eight years ago and live so much better and happier.'
1:05:00 Doug, I agree. It's quality of life. I always say it this way: the best places to make money aren't necessarily the best places to live. The US is fantastic for making money, but there are some real challenges there that impact quality of life. Cold weather is one of them. For some of us, we just don't care for the cold weather. For others, it's the high cost of living. For others, they may feel their romantic options aren't so good in the United States. So many different reasons to live overseas.
1:05:31 Yeah, hey, Family of Five, good to see you. If you're a foreigner, I would avoid Zamboanga all the way to Tawi-Tawi. Yeah, I would agree with that. There's so much to see in the Philippines, so many awesome places. There's no reason to take the risk of going down to areas where, for Americans, I speak for Americans, I can't speak for other people, but the US has put out some travel warnings that we have to be mindful of.
1:06:05 They let you know, 'Hey, we don't recommend our people go there.' So I've got to take that into consideration in my decision-making. Those places are off my radar. I've even had a local acquaintance of mine, who's lived here his whole life, tell me, 'Hey, don't go down there.' He was like, 'Don't go down there.' You know, beautiful lots of nice pictures, videos, whatever. I'm paraphrasing here, but don't go down there.
1:06:45 So yeah, good evening from New Jersey, originally from Cagayan de Oro. Wow, what a small world, Family of Five. So Cagayan de Oro is the first place I ever landed in the Philippines. So when I came five years ago, I landed in Cebu and then flew down to Cagayan de Oro. I didn't even leave the Cebu airport though. So my first taste of the Philippines was on a taxi, well, flying into CDO airport in Laguindingan, I think is how you pronounce it, and then taking a taxi into Cagayan de Oro City, stopping by a money changer to get some pesos to pay my taxi driver.
1:07:25 And then I went to, I think it was SM City CDO and had Starbucks with my buddy. Cagayan de Oro is like a mini-Cebu to me. It's got some of those big city conveniences, and it's not on as many people's radar as, of course, Bay, Palawan, Manila, Cebu. But I like CDO. I'd like to go back there. My friend still lives there, actually. So if I decide to go to Mindanao, a different part of Mindanao, not the challenged area, but then I'll probably be passing through CDO again, which will be interesting to see how it's changed. I've heard it's grown a lot in the last five years.
1:08:33 Family of Five says, 'I have Starlink in my house in Cagayan de Oro and we love it.' That's awesome. Okay, very good. How's the internet speed, Family of Five, for your home in Cagayan de Oro? Do you feel like you could do video conferencing? How about streaming? Yeah, just curious about your experience there. Johnny says, 'Do you use Converge or who else offers fiber there?'
1:08:57 So we have PLDT. We have PLDT, and I'm super happy with the service. I don't organize that part; my host family does. But yeah, it cruises right along, and I'm very happy with the service. They just include it into my rent, so I pay a certain flat fee for rent, and that includes my rent, my electric, my internet, and water. All those things just included, one makes it a lot easier for them, makes it a lot easier for me.
1:09:32 Family of Five says, 'I have Starlink and PLDT landline. I like the PLDT better. Starlink not so good when it rains.' Yeah, so in the rainy season, I could imagine then that Starlink becomes a little bit iier as far as connection stability, and it's something to be mindful of. If you're going to be here year-round, not just in the dry season, then it might be nice to supplement with the PLDT.
1:10:07 I don't have personal experience with Starlink, but I'm happy to try it out sometime if I commit to living here long-term. Like if I get into a committed relationship, you know, eventually get married or something like that, and I end up in a more provincial area or an area that's not quite in the city, I'm definitely going to be looking at Starlink. It's a game-changer for the Philippines. I think it's just another piece of the puzzle that's helping to make it even more connected.
1:10:48 Yeah, feel free, guys, to chime in with any questions or thoughts that you have. We've got 13 people watching. Please give us a thumbs up if you haven't already. It helps with the YouTube algorithm. The temperature is starting to tick up for sure. I'm definitely starting to get a little bit hotter here, and I feel a little bit sweaty, to be honest. I don't have AC here; I just have fans, but the fans are in my bedroom, they're not out here.
1:11:19 But it helps you with adjusting. For me personally, some people can't deal without AC. I think it helps to adjust a bit to be able to handle it. I have a friend who lived in Thailand for 15 years, and I asked him, 'How do you operate without AC?' He said, 'I just got used to it.' He's a Brit. I'd actually like to interview him. I need to make a note of that.
1:11:54 So I'll be interviewing him. He's actually going to be doing a race in Manila. He's 64 years old and he's going to be competing in Manila in less than three weeks. So when he gets back from that, I'll be doing an interview with him. It should be interesting. He's done a few interviews, but I'm going to go in some directions that others haven't covered. He's a really inspiring guy. He had not run since his Royal Air Force days and was trying to find something to do to focus on here in the Philippines because he's retired.
1:12:25 He decided on running. He's like, 'I'm going to run,' and got into super good shape. He's in better shape than I'm in, and I'm literally half his age. So I'm 32, he's 64. He is incredible, and I think his story being really inspiring will show a lot of guys that you can really get in shape at his age. Because the presumption is, 'Oh, he's 64, what can he really do?' He runs fast. I mean, he is in incredible shape. He's got like six-pack abs at 64.
1:13:01 I'm not saying everybody's got to strive for that; it's pretty intense his workout schedule and routine, but it certainly opened my mind and shifted my thinking in a lot of ways. He's been a good friend to me as well. He's provided a lot of insight and shared a lot of his thoughts and experiences from being in this part of the world for close to 20 years. He's a retired aerospace engineer, so he worked on aircraft.
1:13:44 Richard says, 'Glad to see you streaming. Finally finished work. Counting down till I will be in Bogo, November 6.' Well, Richard, I'm excited for you. You're going to be here in about two and a half weeks. We're getting down to the wire. I think you're going to enjoy it. That reminds me, I need to talk to my host family about extending another month because, yeah, I'm just so comfortable here in Dumaguete. It's just such an easy place to live and an easy place to enjoy life.
1:14:32 So Richard, I guess you'll fly to Manila and then you'll probably have a layover or a transfer and then fly down to Dumaguete and then take like a trike or a jeepney out to Bogo, or maybe your wife, your fiance.
1:14:47 Your fiance will pick you up from the airport, but I think you're going to be so relaxed and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. You're arriving at the start of the dry season; I think we're going to get the last of our rain here in the next week or so. It's supposed to rain later today; I can feel the humidity and see the clouds.
1:15:21 It's lovely here in the Philippines. I feel so much more relaxed; my blood pressure has come down. Being around the kind and welcoming Filipinos helps me chill out. They're just so calm and friendly, and I love the people here.
1:15:45 I look forward to my jeepney rides because the drivers all recognize me now. They're waving me over, saying, "Come on, man, hop in the passenger seat." I sit in the front because I'm a big American, and they're just so nice.
1:16:04 There are times when I just ride to town because I'm not sure what to do that day. I need to film, but I'm not exactly sure how I want to structure the day. It's just a pleasant way to start the day, hopping in beside a nice driver.
1:16:25 Driving anywhere in the world can be stressful, but they maintain this positive attitude and demeanor. It's so encouraging because when I'm in the US, I associate driving with a lot of stress. Even when people cut them off or drive too close, you might see them shake their head or honk, but it's not a meltdown.
1:17:00 I really admire the hardworking Filipinos here that make it such a nice place to be. They take pride in their job and enjoy helping people. There are a lot of people who are very helpful in making this place awesome.
1:17:36 Doug says he's 68 and came to the Philippines specifically to run a marathon in Baguio. He had always planned to stay. Doug, I think you mentioned you might be coming through Dumaguete; I really want to introduce you to my friend Colin. If you come through, we should meet up because I think you and Colin would hit it off.
1:17:53 If you guys are both into marathons, you're both runners, you might have a lot in common. Colin is 64, just four years younger than you, and he's really gotten into running. I think it's really given him something positive to focus on and work towards.
1:18:12 He's also taught me some stuff about running and helped me learn. I'd like to start running with him more, but it's a little bit tricky to find places to go running here in Dumaguete that aren't on pavement. I think pavement can be a little hard on the knees or ankles.
1:18:38 They have an oval, but I don't ride a motorbike, so it's trickier for me to get there. That's where Colin likes to go train, and he's an interesting guy for sure.
1:18:48 Richard says, "Pretty chill for sure. Fiance and sister-in-law will meet me. Tail end of rainy season. My birthday is in November, and in December, I'm going to the livestock auction and buy a couple of pigs for a family gathering of about a hundred people. My first try at roasting lechon." Yeah, that was one of the most thrilling experiences I've had here in Dumaguete.
1:19:11 I've had a lot of cool experiences here, but I attended a fiesta. My friend Jen invited me, so I went over to join her and her friends. The guys roasting lechon were like, "Yeah, come check it out." They were twisting the lechon, and there's something primal about it.
1:19:38 You could call it a caveman instinct about roasting lechon, where you think, "Man, people have been doing this for millennia, sitting around a fire, cooking an animal and getting excited about eating it." I like lechon a lot; it's super tasty.
1:19:57 It reminds me of growing up in the southern US because pork is very big there. That's something I enjoy about here, the lechon, and it brings people together. People love it because they're eating something really tasty.
1:20:12 Seeing the happiness and joy of the people to have something that I feel like, in the US, we sometimes take food for granted. Food is so plentiful for the average American; we struggle with our weight. People are just grateful for things here in the Philippines, and it creates a lot of teaching moments for me to have gratitude in my own life.
1:20:44 That's very generous of you, Richard, to get some pigs at the livestock auction. I'm kind of curious to go to the livestock auction myself; I've never been to one here, but I'd like to go see one because I think that would be really interesting.
1:21:00 Pinto, hi everyone! Hey Pinto, good to see you. Richard says, "Super stoked." Orion asks, "Do you like balut or durian?" I've never tried balut; I don't think it's for me. I've been offered balut many times by Filipino friends who laugh a lot when they offer it to me.
1:21:20 One of my friends suggested his wife and I should make a video of me trying balut. So, me actually sitting down with her and trying one, I don't think it's for me. Just my personal opinion, I just don't know that it's something I would enjoy.
1:21:35 I love durian; I can eat durian all day. I got the taste for durian in Thailand. I didn't like it the first couple of times, and then I tried it a third time, a little bit underripe and kind of that crispy texture, and I fell in love. So, I like durian; durian smells good to me now.
1:21:59 It somehow doesn't smell as funky to me now that I've developed the taste for it. So yeah, I could eat durian all day. I didn't get any durian this time; I missed out on it. I should have tried some, and now I think we're out of season here.
1:22:09 But it's something I want to try in Davao. So, Davao is the durian capital of the Philippines, and I imagine when I go down there, I will be able to try it.
1:22:29 Doug says, "It would be really good to have someone to run with here in Quezon. The traffic's so bad; I have a hard time finding a place to run. I loved running the mountains in Colombia." Yeah, that's a good point, Doug. In Quezon, it's so packed; it's not so easy, you know.
1:22:46 My friend Colin has a friend from Manila, and she said there's a certain place they go; they have a track in Manila. But she did say it's pricey; you pay 200 pesos per hour to run there. So, it is a little pricey for just access, but I know she also said it's a really nice facility.
1:23:11 It's very high quality, not too crowded, and the maintenance is really on point. And yeah, it might be too far; I'm not sure where that track is located, so it might be a bit too far. But checking out Dumaguete, I would say it's not necessarily easy to find a place here.
1:23:42 Yeah, Orion says he can try joining running groups; I'm sure they know the good routes. That makes sense as well. Richard says, "I used to raise ducks and incubated the eggs till day 18. The Vietnamese bought them all because the age was consistent; older balut is not so desirable."
1:23:57 That makes sense, Richard, because I always see balut vendors here in Dumaguete. They always write the number of days on the styrofoam containers. They store them in these containers and write 18. It's funny you mention 18; the balut vendors here are exactly the same as what you did.
1:24:15 They'll write 18 days on the front of it, so if you're a consumer of balut, you know the age and what to expect. I think they charge like 25 pesos for one balut. Some vendors may charge a bit less; that's the price I think I've seen on the boulevard.
1:24:47 Balut is very popular here; I see a lot of people enjoying it. When I met Filipina P, actually, I think one of her friends ordered some balut. So, I met P about a month ago, and that was really interesting. I should have done a video on it.
1:25:04 I may still do a video on it because it was honestly an interesting experience. We sat down and hung out for a while; I hung out with her and her crew. She's just very hardworking and very talented.
1:25:19 I ran into her the next day as well at a coffee shop in Dumaguete. I think she started to come out a bit more, and that's always interesting because she's encouraged a lot of people to come here to the Philippines. She's really shared a lot.
1:25:34 Oh, Ronell, hey, good to see you. Ronell, it looks like you retracted your message, but I hope you're doing well today. Ralmetch says, "I love to run upon the riverside in Phnom Penh at the confluence of the Tonle Sap and Mekong." I know where you're talking about, Medtech. There's Phnom Penh; I think it's perhaps the most underrated Asian capital city.
1:26:00 It's just so charming; it reminds me of New Orleans. If any of you have been to New Orleans in the United States, it's like Southeast Asia's New Orleans. The mental game involved in eating balut is too much for me, knowing the crunchy texture. Yeah, I think so too; it's not so much for me.
1:26:29 But yeah, guys, I'm starting to get some background music, so I'm going to go for a few more minutes and then I think I'm going to wind down. I'm really cautious about the background noise, so we'll do like a few more minutes and then I'm going to go.
1:26:48 I'm going to go ahead and cut it off here. Is Cambodia cheaper than the Philippines? I don't know, it's a good question. It kind of depends on your lifestyle and where you live. Deva is Red Zone, most insurance doesn't cover travel there.
1:27:05 Good to know, Nicholas. I did not know that, and I'm sure it's delicious though. Well, guys, I'm going to go ahead and wrap up. Thank you so much for watching. If you're watching a replay of this, please subscribe to the channel down below if you haven't already. Give us a thumbs up, it helps to boost the channel and algorithm, and comment down below. Let me know what you think of this update video. Thanks so much, guys, for watching.
1:27:27 I do want to just cut it because of the background noise. Take care, everybody.
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